SPECIAL FEATURE

History of the William Penn House

The
William Penn House was the idea of Frank M. Steinberg and Efriam J.
Frankel. Together the partners, along with Frankel Enterprises,
purchased most of the required land from the Wolf family, the owners of
the Penn Fruit Company and the William Penn Shop. There was actually a
Penn Fruit market on the southeast corner where the Stock Exchange
building now stands.

The land purchase
included the wholesale flower market fronting on Ludlow Street between
19th and 20th Street. Ranstead Street ran through from 19th to 20th
Street. Several buildings on Chestnut Street were also purchased so the
new cooperative would have a Chestnut Street address. Directly across
the street from today's front entrance was Helen Siegel Wilson's
renowned restaurant. Part of our front garden and the neighboring State
Store was the private dining club known as the Alpha Club. The Alpha
Club relocated further east on Chestnut Street where Victoria's Secret
is now doing business.

The
city administration was encouraging people to locate to Center City
with its offer of shopping and cultural advantages not to mention short
walks to work.

Sample apartments were
constructed in Strawbridge & Clothier department store at 8th and
Market Streets. Much to the store's dissappointment, the samples sold
in record time and had to be dismantled.

With
the spring of 1964 came the groundbreaking for this the third
cooperative apartment house in Philadelphia and by October, 1965, the
new cooperative's tenant-members were moving into their spacious, all
electric, luxury apartments.

The
neighborhood looked different back then. You could see City Hall from
the terraces on the north side of the building, along with an
unobstructed view of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Thirty-five years
later, with many of the original tenant-members still living here, the
cooperative continues to be maintained as a modern, attractive,
comfortable, state-of-the-art building. Our tenant-members continue to
enjoy tax and financial advantages of cooperative living in the heart
of our great city. All of this is due to the diligence and dedicated
hard work of the men and women who have taken the time to serve on our
Board of Directors and House Council. Residents feel that the William
Penn House is the best managed building in Center City.